PSU Visit Report: Pocic

Cory James

06/01/2007

Lemont, Ill., offensive tackle prospect Graham Pocic took in Happy Valley this week for a visit with Joe Paterno and his staff. Pocic had time to hang out with players, talk with coaches, tour the campus and talk with the legendary coach. Find out what Pocic thought of his visit as he prepared to leave campus.

The 6-foot-7, 300-pound Graham Pocic made the trek from Lemont, Ill., to Penn State this week to find out what the Nittany Lions could do with his services in 2008. Pocic got into town Thursday and is leaving Saturday to head back to his home state as he makes the turn for the home stretch on his recruitment

I got into State College around 5 or 6 p.m. (Thursday), Pocic said. When I got in, I spent some time with some of the players right away. I was introduced to their center, A.Q. Shipley, and the backup quarterback, Pat Devlin. They were pretty cool guys. We just hung out and talked about lifting and what the campus was like and all kinds of things about the school.

Today (Friday) we woke up around 8:30 a.m. and took a tour of the campus and the facilities, Pocic said. I got a chance to check out their strength and conditioning coaches and the program and all of that. Then I got to spend some time with their offensive tackles coach, Bill Kenney, and we watched film. We were watching film on Levi Brown and he was comparing me to him and talking to me about playing left tackle.

After that I got to meet with Coach Joe Paterno for a while and talk to him about things, Pocic said. He really surprised me with how involved that he is. It was really great talking to a coaching legend like him. He told me that he really doesn't like to tell kids that they have a shot at a lot of playing time, but they needed offensive tackles pretty badly and that I could have a lot of playing time ahead of me if I work hard. It was pretty cool.

Pocic leaves Happy Valley to get a flight out of Pittsburgh at 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning, so Friday figured to be a low-key evening for the big man. It'll give him time to think about the whole recruiting process.

Penn State is definitely a school that I will consider, Pocic said. I have no favorites right now. I am still planning on making my decision in late June or early July, though. Right now, the only other visit that I have planned is next weekend to Florida.

Stay tuned to FightOnState.com and the Scout.com network for the latest on Graham Pocic.